Tag: Houston

What Did I Miss – Part 2

I took a little side trip to Galveston in December. There were two historic houses that I wanted to tour, and the traffic due to road construction did not deter me! The mansion on the left is Bishop’s Palace and the one on the right is the Moody Mansion.

They were both well-preserved and decorated for the holidays. Both tour guides said that the summer breezes kept the houses “cool” in the warmer months, but I’m sure they were still stifling! I was glad, again, that I was visiting in December and not July.

Did I mention the millwork in these houses? Absolutely incredible to see that level of artistry in wood all over both mansions; samples below.

Just lovely. It’s hard to pick my other favorites from these homes, but here’s another sample from a butler’s pantry, bathroom, and a bedroom.

The pink tile on that fireplace. 🔥

I also took a drive down to the beach to see the sunset and drive past the boardwalk. I was warned that these beaches are not the same as a Florida or East Coast beach, but it was still a lovely sight to behold. After, I drove to the downtown area past some other very charming historic neighborhoods in a search of a mailbox to send some postcards. Even at the post office, there wasn’t a mailbox where I could drop them. 🍫 There was a cruise ship in the bay (harbor?) – not sure what they call it.

On the way back to my hotel, I placed a to go order at Salt Grass – a Texas (?) chain that has reasonable steak prices and good sides. Not sure if they are based in Texas, but that’s always where I’ve visited their restaurants. I also treated myself to a hotel stay to sleep in a big bed and have a hot shower without my flip flops.

Speaking of food, I had so much good food when I was in Houston. I went with my co-worker to a couple of bakeries and tried concha for the first time. Arthur thought they were pretty good, too. I had a delightful “taco” on a flour tortilla with a crusted on layer of melted cheese, then steak, and then cut-up poblanos. I also had a chance to meet up with some other co-workers in downtown Houston for brunch one crisp morning; the food was ok, but the conversation was fantastic.

I am officially an H-E-B convert. I have a lot of co-workers who live in Texas, so they always talk about how great it is, but I was able to experience it for myself, and it was a delight. I still miss the butter tortillas, the flavored almonds, the pre-washed, packaged TX russet potatoes, and just the general grocery atmosphere. I highly recommend if you are in anywhere in TX near an H-E-B. They are also great to their employees. One of my current co-workers has kept her part-time (one day a month) H-E-B gig because they are so generous.

Before I leave Houston, just a couple of things I wanted to add, so I don’t forget as a look back at this time.

Overall, we had really great weather when I was in Houston, but like a lot of places I’ve been, the tornados showed up. We also had a couple weeks when the RV park got really nervous about water usage, so we were back to using water for gallon jugs and hoping it would get warm enough for the park managers to feel comfortable with turn on the water.

On one visit downtown, we discovered this amazing rooftop garden. In the main building there were a few shops and some restaurants, but the outdoor space on the roof was really the highlight.

My now favorite road trip meal is a baked potato with butter, bacon, and cheddar cheese. If I was feeling fancy, I would add a bit of sour cream. Most of those ingredients are refrigerated, and at some point in Houston, a part in our fridge decided it was done with the road trip. 🍫🍫🍫 More on this later in Austin – our next stop in TX.

You’re probably wondering how Arthur is doing. By the time we reached Houston, we’d been on the road for a full year. He endured a couple babysitting stints with help from our friends at Rover.com while we were in Houston when I went to FL and MN. He made friends with a new toy and then decided he didn’t like it. He chased the red dot without me having to wave my arm in the air to keep him entertained. And, for time to time, he got annoyed with me and face-planted into the wall. Oh, Arthur.

Up next – two months in Austin, TX. 🤠

What Did I Miss?

Houston is a massive city, and I’m sure I didn’t get to see even half of what I could’ve seen, but I made my best effort, starting with the donuts. I tried multiple bakeries around Houston and enjoyed donuts and kolaches from as many as I could. It was delicious because…

While I was eating donuts and Chicken Salad Chick, I also toured the Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park in downtown Houston and heard an hour and a half of tour guide commentary on the history of Houston. I was the only person on the tour, so I’m not entirely sure why it lasted as long as it did, but I learned a lot, forgot it, and donated some cat food to feed the large assortment of feral cats in the park.

The homes were beautiful, but I wasn’t allowed to take pictures inside, so you get a picture of cats, the history behind a recreation of a TX general store, and some beautiful trees on the property. There was also a beautiful and informative exhibit about the Karankawa people. They rotate the exhibit, but the employees create each of them after extensive research.

We had tea at two different spots. The first one was in the northern suburbs near Spring – the Hummingbird Tea Room. It was a lovely tea service.

I enjoyed their take on the traditional cucumber open-faced sandwich with strips of cucumber on top of cream cheese. They also had a lovely English garden outside of the shop.

We took the tea bus around downtown Houston. It was a different experience but fun! Then we visited the downtown Houston library, which was confusing but expansive. They had this beautiful mosiac outside the library, so we grabbed a picture.

I also had a chance to drive out to the Johnson Space Center. This is where I learned that I really don’t care that much about space or learning more about it. I don’t know if it was just the mood I was in that day or what, but I was not interested or impressed. It really made me wonder if I have lost the wonder and amazement of a child when they think about space.

Don’t worry. My lack of enthusiasm did not prevent me from taking some pictures.

See? Rockets.

Can you believe that this t-shirt ^ was on clearance?? Can you believe that I didn’t buy it?

Next up – fabulous food in Houston and a side trip to Galveston. Stay tuned.

Holidays in Houston

Because I decided on Texas for the winter, it meant that I would be spending the holidays in Houston. Thankfully, I was blessed to have friends in Houston, and we had a beautiful holiday season in the Longhorn state.

Before Thanksgiving, I had a chance to visit downtown Houston with a friend and see the Houston Museum of Natural Science. There was a Death of Natural Causes exhibit that highlighted all the kinds of ways one could perish “naturally”. It was beyond interesting and kinda gross. 🙂 We had some good laughs and were definitely amazed by the ways that people have met their maker.

The herbivore part of the exhibit was displayed in a quaint greenhouse and was my favorite part.

For Thanksgiving, I baked what will hence forth be known as the crack brownies. My friend’s husband has been on a sugar-restricted diet for a few years now and rarely cheats on that plan. I baked the brownies at their house, and before I got back to Estella and Arthur, he had eaten a whole row of the brownies. He named them the crack brownies because he said they were like crack, and he just couldn’t stop eating them.

We had Thanksgiving at their daughter’s in-laws’ home, and there was an incredible amount of delicious food and great company. We played dominoes, had some great laughs, and all left with very full bellies.

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we set-up Christmas decorations, and I made a quick trip down to Florida for a work trip.

The picture on the right is the tree we used in the RV to celebrate.

For fun, I also made a quick to Minnesota to visit my favorite orthodontic surgeon to get the implant for my missing molar. The drugs were effective, and the healing went well. Still no tooth back there, but we’ll get to that at some point.

These two cuties helped me feel better, and their dog mom made sure I followed all the directions from the surgeon. For two months, as per the recommendation, I did not eat on that side of my mouth. Have you ever tried not to eat on one side of your mouth. It really isn’t that easy. 🍫🍫 If you’re bored and looking for something to do while eating, I wouldn’t recommend it.

For Christmas, there were more crack brownies, gluten-free peanut butter cookies, and homemade sugar cookies that my friend’s grandkids helped us decorate. There was even a very cute grandkitty who helped open presents.

There was so much to see and do in the Houston area, and I’ll cover that in the next installment. For now, just a little bit more on our journey since Thanksgiving and Christmas were months ago. Arthur and I are on to “Phase Two” of our journey, and Estella is taking a well-deserved break in a barn on my parents’ farm. Phase Two includes Arthur and I driving around the country in an SUV and living in some of my favorite places and where we may end up. This phase will last until April of 2026, but I am hopeful that we will find our forever hometown by that time.

Arthur is helping me write this post tonight in our first destination of Phase Two. He and I have both enjoyed living in the extra space and trying to remember what it’s supposed to be like to live in a city and travel like normal people. Once we leave this location, I’ll share more about where we are and what we loved about being here. Until then, know that we are safe and that I will finish blogging about Phase One: Life in the RV.

Destination: Houston

We woke up on Saturday outside of Columbus, GA, at a Boondockers Welcome location in Fortson. They had a great set-up with parking spot on their extended driveway by a utility shed. The host walked down to see me and brought an extension cord that I could use since the shed was a bit further than my cords would reach. We even had a nice chat. I woke up to Arthur sharing my pillow because I was late with breakfast.

Saturday was our longest drive from Fortson to Livingston Lakeside RV Resort in Louisiana – just to the east of Baton Rogue. I’d never driven across southern LA before, and it was a lot different drive than what I expected. It was amazing to drive over the waterways and see the people driving their boats and living as they normally do. Those little slices of life really make the 400+ mile journey meaningful. The RV resort was very sunny and a bit warm, but it was peaceful and safe, so well worth the side-eye looks I got. I’m guessing they don’t see a lot of Asian ladies camping with their cat in these parts. 🍫

On Sunday, we left for the last leg of our 1000 mile journey into Houston, TX. We stopped at a not-so-busy Buc-ee’s outside of Houston to fill up and head to the Laurel Springs RV Resort in the Kingwood area of Houston. As of 2023, Houston is the fourth largest metropolitan area, trailing New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, but I was still surprised at the sheer size when we first arrived. It has all the things other large cities have – major highway systems, every store imaginable, many, many neighborhoods and areas. Our spot was in the northeast corner of the region and in a quiet alcove near Spring Creek.

When we arrived on Sunday, the office wasn’t open, so I had a bit of a scramble to find the email with our spot location. We easily parked and got set-up for the next two months. I wanted to winter in TX to try to escape some of the more extreme temperatures, but when we arrived in November, it was warm and humid.

Arthur was really happy in Houston. With all the driving we’d done, he deserved the rest – we all did. We did quite a bit while we were in Houston. More on that next time!